Academic literature on the topic 'Medullary Thyroid Carcer'

Abstract RET (REarranged during Transfection), which encodes a receptor tyrosine kinase for members of the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor, plays a role as driver oncogene in a variety of human cancers. Fusion of RET with several partner genes has been detected in papillary thyroid, lung, colorectal, pancreatic and breast cancers, and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for RET (particularly RET-specific inhibitors) show promising therapeutic effects against such cancers. Oncogenic mutations within the extracellular cysteine-rich and intracellular kinase domains of RET drive medullary thyroid carcinogenesis; the same mutations are also observed in a small subset of diverse cancers such as lung, colorectal and breast cancers. Considering the oncogenic nature of RET mutants, lung, colorectal and breast cancers are predicted to respond to RET TKIs in a manner similar to medullary thyroid cancer. In summary, cancers carrying oncogenic RET alterations as a driver mutation could be collectively termed ‘REToma’ and treated with RET TKIs in a tissue-agnostic manner.

We present a case of severe hypercalcemia with extensive venous and arterial thrombosis that led to the patient’s demise in the setting of possible multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) type 2a. A 35-year-old female presented to the emergency with nausea and vomiting for one week. Physical examination revealed dry mucous membranes, a thyroid nodule on left side and epigastric tenderness. Initial investigations revealed evidence of renal impairment and hypercalcemia. Parathyroid hormone (PTH) level was very high. Ultrasound of the thyroid showed a solitary left thyroid nodule with mixed cystic and solid isoechoic echogenicity. The patient developed progressive dyspnea and hypoxemia, which mandated mechanical ventilation. Dialysis was initiated via the right femoral catheter and stopped due to extensive venous thrombosis of the right lower limb. Pulmonary emboli were excluded and pulmonary edema was confirmed by computed tomography. The patient was subsequently intubated for persistent respiratory distress. The same condition occurred in the right upper limb. Fine needle biopsy of the left thyroid nodule revealed medullary thyroid cancer. The consulting team preferred to manage her conservatively as she was rapidly-deteriorating. She developed progressive shock and multi-organ failureed. Citation: Algethamy HM, Shikdar YA, Alansari TA. A case of severe hypercalcemia with arterial and venous thrombosis. Anaesth pain intensive care 2020;24(1):__ DOI: https://doi.org/10.35975/apic.v24i1. Received – 1 December 2019, Reviewed – 11 December 2019, 2 January 2020, Accepted – 10 January 2020;

Objective: We have set as objective to analyze epidemiological data of diagnosed thyroid carcinoma (TC) cases, incidence and prevalence rate by gender, age, histopathological type, and statistical regions in R. of N. Macedonia during the period 1999 to 2015. Material and Methods: Retrospective analysis of medical data collected from the 2 state thyroid departments. Inclusion criteria included newly diagnosed cases of TC in appropriate years for the period 1999 to 2015. We have evaluated: yearly incidence rate, incidence and prevalence by gender, age, the distribution in 8 statistical state regions and histopathological types and subtypes representation. Results: A total number of 422 TC patients were detected, average incidence rate of 1.22/105, with most prevalent papillary TCs79.5%, followed by follicular 10.9%, medullar 4.1%, anaplastic 3.1%, and other rare types with 2.3%. The highest incidence rate was detected in Skopje region, while the lowest in Southeast and the Polog region. The total prevalence rate for the female gender was 32.61/104 and for male 9.27/104 (f/m ratio = 3.52:1), with lowest female/male difference found in the elderly > 65 years (f/m = 2.21/1). Conclusion: Compared with regional epidemiological data we can conclude that Republic of N. Macedonia has very low incidence and prevalence rate, while female/male ratio was similar to that described in the literature. Our low incidence and prevalence rate may be due to 2 possible reasons, 1 would be insufficient diagnosis of only small portion of the real cases in the population, or the second reason may be a real low incidence resulting of specific etiopathogenetic circumstances.

Multiple endocrine neoplasia is a hereditary, autosomal dominant disease. It is created predominantly by RET germline mutations and is considered rare, with a frequency of 1 in 30,000 people. In particular, medullary thyroid cancer associated to this pathology presents at a younger age in relation to sporadic cases. Pheochromocytoma is linked to metastatic disease in only 4% of cases and it is a disease which requires high clinical suspicion. The age of presentation when related to multiple endocrine neoplasia is lower than that of the general population, 38 and 47 years of age respectively. RET proto-oncogene mutation on Codon 634 in exon 11 is the most frequent genetic alteration, present in 85% of cases of MEN2A. Its penetrance for pheochromocytoma is 25% at 30 years and 88% at 77. The objective of this article is to present a case of a patient with MEN2A with bilateral pheochromocytoma and medullary thyroid cancer, discovered in a hypertensive man as an incidental finding.

(1) Background: Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are a group of tumors that arise from neuroendocrine cells throughout the body, with the lungs and gastrointestinal tract being the most common sites of origin. In patients with NENs and distant metastases, surgery is generally not curative. Although well-differentiated and low-grade NENs, classified as neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), are usually less aggressive than poorly-differentiated NENs, they can develop distant metastases in about 15% of cases. These patients require chronic medical management. However, the clinical efficacy of these treatments is limited by the low objective response rate, due to the occurrence of tumor resistance and the high biological heterogeneity of these neoplasms. (2) Research problem: We addressed this study on two rare NETs: lung neuroendocrine tumors (LNETs) and medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). LNETs represent about 2% of lung tumors, while MTCs are rare thyroid tumors caused by mutations in the RET proto-oncogene. Both NETs are well-differentiated neoplasms and are known to be highly vascularized. Therefore, they represent a potential target for tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) selective for receptors involved in angiogenesis. The aim of this project was to evaluate the antitumor activity of several new TKIs both in vitro, using LNETs (NCI-H727, UMC-11 and NCI-H835) and MTC (TT and MZ-CRC-1) cell lines, and in vivo, adopting a novel zebrafish xenograft model to study angiogenesis. In LNETs we tested: sulfatinib, a small molecule that inhibits the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor (VEGFR) 1, 2, and 3, and the Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor type 1 (FGFR1); cabozantinib, a multi-target inhibitor selective for VEGFR2, c-Met, Kit, Axl and Flt3; and axitinib, a multi-target TKI of VEGFR1, 2, 3 and Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Receptor-beta (PDGFRβ). In MTC we tested: sulfatinib; SPP86, a RET-specific inhibitor; and SU5402, an inhibitor of the FGFR1 and VEGFR2. (3) Methodology: In LNETs and MTC cells the effects of selected TKIs have been evaluated in vitro through: MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) and MTS (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium) assays, for assessing cell viability; flow-cytometer analysis, for the evaluation of cell cycle and apoptosis; and wound-healing assay, to study cell migration. In vivo we took advantage of the transgenic zebrafish line of Tg(fli1a:EGFP)y1. Through the xenotransplantation of NET cells in the subperidermal space near the subintestinal vein, we assessed the effects of TKIs on tumor-induced angiogenesis and cancer dissemination. (4) Key Results: In LNET cell lines we observed a dose-dependent decrease in cell viability after incubation with all TKIs. This effect seems to be related to the perturbation of the cell cycle and induction in apoptosis. In NCI-H727 wound healing assay showed a significant reduction in cell migration only after incubation with cabozantinib. In the zebrafish model, we found a significant reduction of the tumor-induced angiogenesis in implanted LNET cell lines after treatment with all TKIs. Cabozantinib and axitinib were more potent than sulfatinib in inhibition of angiogenesis, while cabozantinib was the most efficient in reducing cell migration from the transplantation site to the tail. In MTC cell lines, sulfatinib, SU5402 and SPP86 showed a decrease in cell viability, confirmed by the significant reduction in S phase cell population. Moreover, sulfatinib and SPP86 showed for both cell lines a significant induction of apoptosis. Sulfatinib and SPP86 inhibited the migration of TT and MZCRC-1 cells, evaluated through the wound healing assay, while SU5402 was able to inhibit migration only in TT cells. In vivo we observed a significant reduction of TT cells-induced angiogenesis in zebrafish embryos after treatment with sulfatinib and SPP86. (5) Conclusions: Despite sulfatinib resulted the most potent compound in terms of inhibition of LNET cell proliferation, cabozantinib showed in vivo the most effective impact in reducing tumor-induced angiogenesis. Cabozantinib was the only TKI able to inhibit in vivo the dissemination of implanted LNET cells. According to these data, cabozantinib could represent a potential candidate in the therapy of patients with highly vascularized LNET. In MTC cell lines, SPP86 and sulfatinib displayed a similar antitumor activity both in vitro and in vivo, suggesting a good efficacy of specific RET inhibitors (SPP86) with potentially less adverse effects than multitarget TKIs (sulfatinib). In addition, this study showed that the zebrafish model for NETs represents an innovative tool for drug screening with several advantages compared with rodent models: rapidity of procedure, animal immune suppression is not required, lower number of tumor cells for implant and the optical transparency provides a real-time monitoring of cell-stromal interactions and cancer progression in living animals.